A heat sink may be used in electronic systems (e.g., a computer, a router or a switch) to transfer heat generated in electronic components such as, for example, a computer processor to the surrounding air. The heat sink may be electrically grounded to reduce the transmission of electromagnetic energy.
The heat generated in the computer processor increases as computer processor speeds increase. To aid in the dissipation of heat generated in the computer processor, the size of the heat sink and the number of fins may be increased to provide a greater surface area for convection cooling between the heat sink and the surrounding air. The larger heat sink may use a more robust attachment assembly such as, for example, a shoulder screw and spring combination to attach the heat sink to a ground pad of a printed circuit board, grounding the heat sink and supplying the appropriate pressure to the computer processor located between the heat sink and the printed circuit board. The incidental ground path for such an attachment assembly is from the heat sink, through the spring to the screw head, through the shaft of the screw, and to the ground pad on the PCB.